Anniversary (well, half of one)

It's 6 months today since my arrival at Los Ruices. I have to day that the time has hope very quickly and so much has happened during that time.  Some good, some bad, some funny, some sad.

Despite everything I can't imagine being anywhere. Being so close to nature in such a beautiful location brings me so much pleasure whether it's stumbling across orchids in my fields or watching a kestrel hovering in a stiff wind over the vineyard or, even, working through the rain with the neighbours to clear landslips on the track.

Every day throws up some new challenge but I'm still very positive about making the place 'work' in some form or other though what form that will take will isn't entirely clear. However it's still early days and I know that I need to see a year through before I can even start to understand what I've really got.

With snow on the ground, life looks very different from that hot and dusty day when I drove up the track in the van.

Normal service will be resumed...I hope!

The weeks seem to be flying past this year (or is it something to do with age?!).
January, which always seemed to drag in Blighty, was gone before I knew it and then we hit February which I always knew was going to be busy.
'Tis the month for pruning and we are now on day 11 of doing the grape vines. I say "we" but, apart from some initial training and help from my guru Jose on the first day, it has been me working his way up the hill. The vines are getting a very hard prune which swill act as a 'kill or cure' treatment. There are some big patches of dead vines but all is not lost as the dead stumps make fantastic firewood. Come harvest time, I should get a good idea of what is productive vineyard and then I can weigh up whether to replant the bad areas next February.
10 acres done; only another 14 to go (and silk have to finish pruning the black figs).
However, the weather is fantastic at the moment and it is a joy to be working outside. The nights are cold but almost every day is warm with blue skies.
With the current workload plus day-to-day chores, it's difficult to keep the blog updated but
I'll do what I can. There's an entry in the pipeline for the wild boar 'matanza' which will come with a health warning for vegetarians!

Belated updates

I've posted three new blog entries that cover events from January.

1. 'Bonfire night' in Torvizcon
http://gtandalus.blogspot.com.es/2013/01/fire.html

2. An 'interesting' drive
http://gtandalus.blogspot.com.es/2013/01/hairy-drive-with-lemons.html

3. More photographs of the snow at Los Ruices
http://gtandalus.blogspot.com.es/2013/01/la-nieve-more-photos

Enjoy. They should make a change from photos of almond blossom and blue skies....ok, perhaps one more!

Oops!

Didn't realise it had been SO long since my last post. Mitigating circumstances include snow, high winds, lots of decorating and a slow internet connection for the past few days. Apart from the decorating, these things have passed for the moment and so I'll try and catch up with my posts over the next few days. In the interim, here are a few shots taken today on the hill by the ruin as I enjoyed the end of a very warm day (felt like a June evening in England) amidst the almond blossom.

La nieve - more photos

The terrace

The high track

Partridge footprints

Across the barranco

Ploughed fields

Looking down from the high track

La nieve

While I've been seeing snow on the Sierra Nevada since September, today was my first experience of it here at the cortijo. The picture above only shows a light dusting in front of the house but a walk up the hill revealed greater quantities .comthough nothing on the scale of what is being experienced in England. I was accompanied on my walk by a chill wind and did not venture too high. I have more photos but they're awaiting a transfer from my camera and will post them retrospectively

Hairy drive ... with lemons

Woke up to a beautifully sunny day. The mountains opposite were covered in loads of snow so decided I ought to experience the white stuff for myself and drove up to Trevelez. It was also an excuse to try the jeep in the snow. Trevelez was, well, snowy but busy with visitors so did a U-turn and parked up at the foot of the valley which is one of my favorite spots. 

Trevelez

Trevelez valley

I can see my house from there and it's nice getting a different perspective.

Having decided to head home, I drove down the hill stopping to explore some tracks I'd seen previously but not been able to take in the van. Just before reaching Almegijar I saw a sign for some historic baths so I turned off and followed a track. Unbeknownst to me at the time the baths were right by the turning...

The track went on for miles and entered a pine forest. Still no sign of the baths and I ploughed on. The track got worse and worse and worse and I realised after a while that I was actually driving a footpath though there were signs of historic traffic. Had some severe hairy moments; not particularly dangerous just 'difficult' with me still getting used to the capabilities of the jeep. I could see from the satnav that I was heading towards Orgiva and was trying to work out in my head where I would cross the Trevelez river.

Eventually, I passed a house and then came to a dead end. There was a footbridge over the river but the ford was impassable. Putting two and two together, it dawned on me that the house I passed must have been the one in Driving over Lemons! I drove back to the house and called it to see if anyone at home and the author appeared! (I knew from the local papers what he looked like.) 

Having explained my predicament, Chris Stewarts' considered opinion was that it was too dangerous to cross the river in my jeep and the only way out was back the way I'd come. (I didn't invade his privacy by asking him if he was him!). 

For proof, here's a picture of his front gate and a view taken further uphill of the river mentioned in the book.

So, it was back up I went. Got stuck a couple of times but I've got a low ratio I can use on my four wheel drive and, with the odd whiff of burning clutch, I got out. Took just under an hour of slow careful diving to get back to the main road. Not a route I'd like to take in its entirety again but it did show to me what the jeep is capable of and I feel much more comfortable in it. Feels like the mad journey made us bond.

Fire!

I had been told that the January fiesta in  Torvizcon was not to be missed as it involved bonfires being lit in the streets throughout the town.
So tonight  I took myself along to the sleepy town only to find that I could only park a couple of hundred yards outside town, a fairground waltzer was set up at the entrance to the main square and that the (usually empty) lower car park housed a big tent and some dodgems. Add to this various stalls, masses of people and several large bonfires built in various parts of the town. Some transformation, as previous guests who've had a coffee sitting outside at Bar Canario will appreciate.
The fiesta is in honour of San Anton Abad - a hermit, deemed the protector of animals, with a predeliction for pigs. Though I've seen no evidence, leading up to the celebration a pig gets a red ribbon tied to its tail and is given the title 'King of the town'. Said animal is then allowed to roam the streets and all the townsfolk are obliged to feed it. It does not end well for the pig though on the feast day (there's a clue in that last sentence).
Torvizcon does boast two resident pigs in a pen appropriately sited next to the recycling and rubbish slips but I've never seen either wearing a ribbon. I guess a pig walking willy-nilly round the town would not, these days, be a particularly good idea
Anyway, returning to tonight, once various church services and other ceremonials were over, the bonfires were lit. Given the prevailing weather conditions (strong winds), I started to question my choice of attire thinking that next year something asbestos-based might be more appropriate. Fed by endless supplies of brushwood, the fires flared up on several occasions showing observers (and anything parked close!) in hot sparks.

Of course, no self-respecting fiesta is complete without fireworks and we were not to be disappointed.

Although the night was still young and free drink and food were being dished out, I erred on the side of caution and headed home. A very windy night was forecast and I wanted to make sure all hatches were battened down.

Well it ain't vinegar

Spurred on by my neighbour Toni asking me whether I'd tried my Tempranillo wine yet, I'd decided that today would be the day when I would lift the lid on the tank and give it a go.

I managed to put the fateful moment off for a while by going in to Cadiar to buy half a refinery (gas, petrol and oil) and a bout of wood-chopping ahead of the bad weather we're expecting, I ventured in to the bodega a short while ago. Releasing the sealed lid, I quickly dipped a glass in before re-sealing the tank.

Returning to the kitchen, initial inspection revealed that it was red (would have been something seriously wrong if it wasn't!), did not smell bad and was clear. With trepidation I had a taste and was pleasantly surprised. I have, indisputably, MADE MY FIRST WINE and, while not as refined as some Tempranillos I have tasted (remember that it has only fermented with the wild yeasts that came on the grapes), it passes muster and compares VERY favourably with that sold by my local off-licence. I have to leave it another month before bottling but I think it's fair to say that I will be able to keep any visitors I may have this year well-lubricated during their stay.

Although a tad early, I'm enjoying a glass as I write this.

Next will be to try the wine made from my own grapes. Watch this space.

An unexpected arrival

Today was a fig day with my starting to prune the big black fig trees as they are currently dormant. Having cut back some lower branches (higher ones will have to wait for my pole chainsaw) on one of them, I took the opportunity to take some hardwood cuttings and planned these on one of the small terraces above what I call the 'flat vineyard'.
Whilst doing this, I heard sheep bells and caught sight of a guard dog. 'Aha' I thought, 'tis the shepherd I saw on Sunday who hasn't yet delivered his promised payment. Having completed my burying of the fig cuttings, I walked up the hill towards the ruin only to find a ewe stood there with a newly-born lamb. Reckon I only missed the birth by a few minutes.
The owner of the ewe then appeared accompanied by a small flock of sheep. It was not the man from Nieles but my neighbour Antonio ('Toni') who was the one who has sold me the Tempranillo grapes back in October. He'd come down to feed HIS sheep on MY almond field (without so much as a 'by your leave' and proceeded to complain about the fact that there wasn't much grass. When I explained that there had been a previous visitor he said that it wasn't right that Sunday's shepherd had just turned up without asking permission! To maintain neighbourly relations I bit my lip.
The new arrival, meanwhile, had managed to get to its feet and was being encouraged by Mum to feed. With a brisk cold wind blowing and a long walk ahead of it back to Toni's place, I wished it well and headed back to the house as it was well past wood-chopping time and, having endured some cold nights of late, I did not fancy being fire-less tonight.
Meanwhile